This invention relates to flagstaffs for automotive use, and more specifically to a flagstaff supporting a small flag displaying a school emblem or colors and supported above the automobile from a side window, even as the automobile is driven. Alternatively, the flagstaff and its flag may be suspended from a nail partially driven in a wall, or carried by hand.
Flagstaffs supported by a side window of an automobile are known in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,153 issued May 28, 1985 to Joseph C. Moon for Display Device. Other patents illustrating the use of an automobile window for supporting a display device include U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,978 issued Sept. 14, 1982 to George C. Brucato for Auta-help, U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,426 issued Aug. 7, 1979 to Donald C. O'Neill for Highway Safety Device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,557 issued Apr. 5, 1977 to Joseph Schulein for Vehicle Display Assembly, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,398,748 issued Apr. 16, 1946 to Morris Lange, et al. for Flagstaff Support.
The aforesaid patents to Schulein, O'Neill and Brucato disclose devices intended to display a flag while the automobile is stopped because of mechanical trouble, an accident, or out of gas. There is no need for retaining the flag or signal on the car while it is being driven and these patents do not disclose any apparatus for dealing with that problem.
The Lange patent discloses a flagstaff support for use while the vehicle is being driven in a parade or funeral, and therefore at slow speeds. Lange discloses a flexible support which may be flexed into frictional engagement with a window opening. Such an arrangement may be satisfactory for supporting a flag at the slow speeds of a parade or funeral, but it would not be satisfactory to support a flag while the car is being driven at highway speeds or, perhaps, even normal city speeds.
The Moon patent discloses a flagstaff intended for the same purpose as the present invention, namely, supporting a flag while the car is being driven at speeds ranging up to highway speed. Moon discloses a flagstaff supported in a bracket which includes a U-shaped portion extending about the upper edge of an automobile window preparatory to raising the window to clamp the U-shaped portion of the bracket between the window glass and the top of the window frame on an automobile. The flagstaff of Moon is removably supported in the bracket by providing a bifurcated lower end portion on the flagpole and a vertical passageway through the bracket to receive the bifurcated end portion of the flagstaff. The bifurcated end portion includes an annular ridge which is passed completely through the vertical passage in the bracket so that the ridge seats against the lower surface of the bracket to resist removal of the flagstaff from the bracket. The flagstaff of Moon may be removed from the bracket by pressing together the bifurcated end portions to reduce the diameter of the annular ridge and then pull the ridge upwardly through the vertical opening in the socket.
The attachment of a flag to the flagstaff of Moon creates a lot of pressure on the flagstaff when the vehicle to which it is attached is driven at high speeds. There is a danger of such pressures overcoming the frictional engagement of the flagstaff with the bracket and pulling the flagstaff out of the bracket while the car is driven at high speed.
The flagstaff of Moon is readily removable from its bracket by pressing together the bifurcated end portion and raising the flagstaff from the bracket. This may be tempting to enthusiastic students at a school event such as a football game or the like resulting in loss of the flagstaff and its flag through vandalism or theft.